"No, Sanctions Didn't Force Iran to Make a Deal"

"... The fact that the pragmatic faction within the Iranian government has on numerous occasions offered more attractive nuclear proposals to the West -- prior to the crippling economic sanctions imposed by Obama -- fundamentally undermines the notion that sanctions were needed to reach a deal.While it is true in a limited sense that sanctions provided the United States with added leverage (assuming it can lift them as part of a deal), the other side of the equation is all too often conveniently forgotten: During this same period, Iran aggressively expanded its nuclear capabilities, which in turn provided it with added leverage over the West. Iran increased its centrifuge count from 3,000 to 19,000 and built a number of advanced centrifuges it didn't have back in 2005. It also amassed thousands of kilograms of low enriched uranium, as well as roughly 200 kg of 20 percent enriched uranium -- of which it had none prior to 2010..."